Colombia a View from an Average Citizen deals with the development of a coflict which rather than a novel is tells us about the tragedy of a society which needs to re-tie is roots to finally grow in liberty.
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One could write all the testimonies of people affected by
violence in this country but there would not be space to store
all the books that may come out, like these Colombians above,
hundreds of thousands have been forced to leave their homelands,
kidnapped, blackmailed, tortured or assassinated with "political"
purposes; the situation has gotten worse not better, as some
people may say;� massacres are still taking place, many people
are still captive, thousands are being� displaced violently from
their farms and houses, there is something that is really
worrying: The involving of civilians (especially children) in the
conflict.

Children represent the future of a country and� that future is
being uncertain because children are forced to be involved in the
conflict one way or another; they could be victimized or forced
to victimize others; according to Consultoria� Para los Derechos
Humanos y el Desplazamiento (Codhes) and Fondo de las Naciones
Unidas Para la Infancia -(UNICEF), more than 1'100.000 boys and
girls under 18 have suffered forced displacement running away
from massacres, threatening, and death from 1985 to 1999.

According to the same source, the actions that motivated their
displacement were:

� Threatening 38%

� Fear 25%

� Massacres and selective killings 22%

� Armed confrontations 8%

� Disappearing 4%

� Bombs 3%

� Tortures 2%

�

Who caused all this displacement� situation? : According to the
report, the responsible groups are:

� Paramilitary groups 48%

� Guerrilla 35%

� The army 9%

� Common delinquency 9%

� Others 4%

�

The situation is dramatic, if one considers that out of the
1�900.000 displaced people, 1�100.000 are children; it represents
86% of the total estimated displaced people; the figures show
that there is a high level of responsibility from the armed
actors, those who make children their objective as part of their
strategies and with which they openly break the international
laws that protect the children.

�The problem is not only about children victimized by violence
but children who have been forced to victimize others when
compelled to conform armed groups; according to the Instituto
Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar ICBF, about 2.000 children are
part of the guerrilla groups and 3.000 were recruited by
paramilitary groups. The official armed forces took the decision
of removing from its troops all young men and women under 18.

According with the ICBF,� It is estimated that those teenagers
have killed at least once 18%, have seen assassinations 60%, have
seen mutilated corpses, 25% have seen or taken part in
kidnappings,� 13% have kidnapped directly, 18% have seen
tortures,, 40% have shot some one at least once and 28% have been
wounded in combats.

The other field in which civilians are strongly involved in the
conflict, is kidnapping; according to� NGO Pais Libre,� in
Colombia, there is a victim of kidnapping or hijacking every
three hours.

The assassination of people in captivity and� the "miraculous
fishing" confirm the drama.

According to Pais Libre, …"only in 1999, 2.945 people were taken
against their will; in 1999, kidnapping increased in 33%; this
high index, shows that the state is not prepared to face the
problem…".� It is estimated that at least 10% of the victims are
children.

1.243 of the victims are still captive, 1.073 were released, 437
were rescued by the government troops, and 38 recovered their
liberty thanks to the pressure of government troops; 61 were
assassinated in captivity, 42 died because of health problems,
and 52 managed to escape.

The list of victimizers is led by FARC with 728 "retained"
people, ELN with 695, common delinquency with 300(some common
delinquents kidnap people and� "sell" them to armed groups, which
will collect the ransom at a higher price),EPL with 167, and
paramilitary groups with 103. The situation in the year 2.000 did
not change much, massive kidnapping and illicit retentions were
still taking place all over the country, at churches, highways,
restaurants, and at home.

�

All these consequences of the conflict have fallen upon Colombian
people but there is something that is affecting Colombians and
many people (especially young) around the world: Drug-dealing, it
has been the worst of evils that could have reached the country
and the world; it is a financial means for all the armed groups
which later buy weapons in the black market to kill more
Colombians and protect illicit plantations; it is not accidental
that the areas in which paramilitary groups, guerrilla groups,
and drug-lords are, are exactly the areas in which� illicit
plantations are and the conflict has developed the most; when
people are forced to leave their� farms behind, that land becomes
property of the strongest group in the region and is used to
plant cocaine, marihuana or any other illicit� product. The
geographic location of cocaine plantations is exactly the
location of illegal armed groups in the south of the country,
FARC has its strongest influence and there is where most cocaine
plantations are, especially in the Putumayo and Guaviare regions;
in Norte de Santander� and mountainous areas of Antioquia,�
paramilitary groups and ELN are still disputing the territory;
many illegal laboratories for processing cocaine have been
destroyed in those regions.

The government has developed a strategy to fight� the traffic of
illegal substances and to diminish the hectares (about 130.000)
cultivated with illegal plants; this strategy is clearly
explained in the "Plan Colombia".

�

Plan Colombia is a strategy that can be summarized in five basic
components:

�

1.���������� Peace Process: The government aims
for this to be a key issue to fight� drug-dealing, corruption,
and violation of human rights. International help has been
requested for safety, an alliance is recommended to diminish the
levels of consumption and the traffic of weapons.

�

2.���������� Reactivation of Economy: The
financial adjustment plans need the creation of a Social
Emergency Fund order to diminish the impact of the conflict at
the low-class level. The Fund will� carry out programmes such as
Manos a La Obra "Hands to Work"� which will generate employment;�
manos a� la obra is the programme with which the government plans
to reduce the levels of unemployment (20%) by replacing machinery
for men in the infrastructure projects.

�

3.���������� Anti-narcotics Strategy: It is the
issue that requires military aid the most, it includes the
creation of a stronger radar system, and provide the army with
the necessary elements to operate faster and more effectively in
the jungle and rivers in the areas of conflict.

�

4.���������� Judicial Reform: The judicial
personnel will receive training, the intelligence technical
agency will be retrained and the administration of justice will
be� restructured.

5.���������� Democratization and Social
Development: This element contains the development
projects, environmental sustainability, and attention to
displacement victims.

�

The above, roughly� illustrates the contents of Plan Colombia,
nevertheless, many people argue that this is not a plan to
construct peace but to enhance war; the military component is
very strong and the eradication of plantations by force may cause
unexpected reactions from the people affected; another issue to
consider is the fact that many illegal armed organizations
finance themselves with the money this industry produces.

The contributors to the plan are mainly the USA and the European
Union but they have encountered opinions on how the eradication
should be carried out:

�

The United States argue that the best way to eradicate the
illicit plantations is by forcing peasants to abandon their
practices and turn ti legal plantations.

The E.U believes that this peace process does not have an
alternative nor a military solution, they will support anything
that deals with logistics and financial issues for the process
and those projects designed by the parties in conflict, keeping
into account the programmes the international community is
leading to strengthen the process; in other words, they "do not
contribute to Plan Colombia but to Colombia itself".

Many people argue that Plan Colombia is only fighting the effects
of the socio-economical problems that have affected the people of
Colombia for centuries, Tulio said :…"when I had a plantation of
fruits, I could not even take them to the market to sell them,
and if I did, it was only to buy some essential products to keep
my family alive; when you work in the countryside, you want to
sell your products a t a good price, have access roads to cities
but we have to do all this on horses or our backs, it is really
difficult because if you pay for transportation, then you will
make less money; money is another problem, we, peasants can not
afford to pay the interest rates that the bank charges or have
access to credit, they ask for a thousand requirements and in the
end they tell you that you do not qualify, on other words, you
have to show them that you already have the money you want them
to lend you…"; like Tulio, many people in the country do not have
other alternatives to make a living with than growing illicit
plants, "One gets more money, they pay you a lot for it and you
do not have to worry about the transport or if you will sell
enough, they buy everything you produce".

�

Colombia is essentially an agricultural country; only few
industries have survived to the free market policy established by
former president Gaviria and his predecessors, the few industries
that survived, were� those monopolies of brews, and textiles; the
agro-industry was affected the most, before 1990, the country
imported basically machinery and technology now a country with a
lot of fertile land has to import food and due to the problems in
the countryside, the quantity of imported food has risen
dramatically.

Prior to being a country with a free-market policy, the state
protected the national industry with tariffs and taxes for
foreign products but then monopolies took advantage of the
situation and manipulated the market according to their own
interests; the free-market policy certainly gave the opportunity
to the average citizen to choose and buy better and cheaper
products and brought along the need of modernization for the
national industry, but technology has a price and the productive
sector could not afford it; Colombia does not have a real
industry, it is estimated that about 60% of the productive sector
is informal, it is mainly conformed by family business or
freelance� workers; a family business can not compete with a
multinational company which has higher levels of technology,
produces more goods faster and at a lower price, it is not
coincidental the fact that the conflict in Colombia worsened
during the last decade; the levels of unemployment raised
dramatically ( 20%), The highest in Latin-America; analysts
believe that it will take at least 5 years to diminish the levels
of unemployment to a 15% if the economy starts to grow, it means
that the situation will continue the same for at least 10 years
if efficient measures do not take place immediately, the
bankruptcy of many family businesses and companies caused many
lay-offs in the private sector; many companies closed down too.

In the public sector, the situation was not better if one
considers the fact that the state is the biggest employer of the
country, there were many shake-ups in the public institutions;
the state, faithful to the neo-liberal policy, had to reduce its
functions to "those which really concern the state: Justice,
security, and provide a good environment for the economy", and
therefore had to reduce the number of public employees
substantially.

�

When people do not have access to work,� they have to look for
new income means, and since there are not many opportunities to
do so, they opt for delinquent activities to survive; the
conflict in Colombia has increased the most in the rural areas
because many peasants do not have access to work and the
commercialisation of products has become more difficult, if the
only alternative that they have is to plant illicit herbs or
joining an armed group, the possibility of solving the conflict
will remain aloof.

�

I personally think that the conflict shall end where it started:
In the rural area; since 1960, the cities of Colombia experienced
a demographical explosion, peasants from all aver the country
moved to the cities in search of new opportunities of work and
protection from the violence in the countryside; once in the
cities, their children who did not have real opportunities to
study or work, became part of streets gangs, delinquent groups or
joined an illicit armed group.

The stage at which the state has its closest contact with people
is the local administration in the provinces and it should be
from there that peace could start to be constructed, especially
if one considers the fact that the population of the country is
concentrated in the capitals of the regions (departamentos) and
that the countryside is still there for those people who want to
return and work there if the security and safety conditions are
created.